FIFA Plans To Expand Teams To 48 Has Been Abandon

The president of the World governing soccer body FIFA, Gianni Infantino said last year that the expansion from 32 teams could be brought forward from 2026 to the 2022 tournament in Qatar

This change could have made the Host (Qatar) to share hosting duties among other countries in the territory.

FIFA said after a “thorough and comprehensive consultation process” the change “could not be made possible now”.

FIFA president Infantino has been a strong promoter towards the expansion and he said that the World Cup has been "more comprehensive"

Fifa also said it explored the possibility of Qatar hosting a 48-team tournament on its own but has decided not to pursue those plans as there was not enough time “for a detailed assessment of the potential logistical impact”.

The enlargement 2026 will see an initial stage of 16 groups of three teams precede a knockout stage for the remaining 32.

UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin in November, said adding 16 teams to Qatar 2022 could create “many problems” and described the idea as “quite unreasonable ”

FIFA 2026 World cup will be co-hosted by USA,Cannada and Mexico.